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The Chosen

So sad to hear that Barbara Seranella passed away on January 21st, after an extended fight with liver disease.

Seranella, who lived in Laguna Beach and La Quinta, California, was deeply beloved by the mystery community. The outpouring of grief on DL since the news broke has been both terribly sad and singularly uplifting. She touched so many people, both with her writing and her heart.

Even those that didn’t know Seranella or her work might want to read an op-ed piece that appeared in the Los Angeles Times at the very end of 2006.

You see, I have been chosen. Don't get too excited or wish that it could have been you. I'm one of those people in the midst of a “courageous battle,” the kind you read about in the obits once the battle is over (read: “lost”).

The piece is lovely and hopeful and, considering how it’s all turned out, almost too sad to read straight through in one go.

Oh, the places I'll go and the things I'll do. I can't wait. Bring on the new year.

Barbara’s ninth book, Deadman’s Switch, will be published by St. Martin’s Minotaur in April.

Linda L. Richards is the editor and co-founder of January Magazine and a regular contributor to The Rap Sheet. She is the author of several book-length works of both fiction and non-fiction. A faculty member of the Simon Fraser University Summer Publishing Program, she maintains a busy lecture and festival schedule and enjoys working with new writers.
When she isn’t writing books, writing about books, teaching or reading, Richards enjoys hiking the wild beaches near her home, quite often thinking about her current work in progress.